Jeff Francis, former head coach of the Bridgewater-Raynham wrestling team who was fired in January after police began investigating allegations of hazing by members of the team, said he’s fielded calls from high school and college programs, asking him to come work for them.

But the ousted coach didn’t want those jobs. He wanted to return to the B-R program that he helped coach to 21 league championships.

“That’s just where I’ve always been,” Francis, 47, told The Enterprise during a recent interview. “It’s where I went to school. It’s where my son’s going to go to school. Those kids over there, they’re like my kids.”

So he reapplied for the job.

But school officials, he said, didn’t respond. The phone call for the interview never came.

Francis lost his job in January and the four captains of the varsity wrestling team were suspended for school for eight days after school officials learned that some of the veterans on the team had struck under-performing teammates with belts and brooms. Police did not file any charges.

Francis said he told school officials about the hazing as soon as he heard about it. In March, School Committee Chairwoman Pat Riley released a statement to The Enterprise saying that Francis was fired for his “failure to report any such actions.”

District Superintendent Jacqueline Forbes has refused to comment on the firing, calling it a personnel matter. Asked about Francis re-applying for the job, Forbes said Friday: “I do not discuss personnel matters with the press.”

Back in March, Riley said the district was in talks with Francis to have him return as head coach, but with provisions including anti-hazing training.

“It would be my hope,” she wrote in March, “that under such circumstances Mr. Francis, based on his high regard in the community and his excellent record as a coach for many years, would have been given full consideration.”

So when Francis didn’t get a call back for an interview, he took it hard, he said.

“To be honest with you, he’s heartbroken,” said James McCarthy, Francis’ attorney, who alleged the district never took those talks to hire him back seriously.

McCarthy said Joseph Emerson, the district’s lawyer, told him the reason Francis was never called was because he missed the application deadline.

“(Forbes) claims that he didn’t get it in on time,” McCarthy said. “They’re just playing a game with him. They waited two months to make the decision.”

Francis said that in years past, it was often three months into the school year before he received his hiring letter.

Page 2 of 2 - “I don’t know if I’ve ever had an application on time over there,” he added.

Fred Conrad, the assistant coach who Athletic Director Dan Buron tapped as interim coach while Conrad’s son and three other team captains were still on suspension, will be head coach this year.

Meanwhile, Francis, for the first time in 25 years, said that come November when the wrestling season begins, he won’t know what to do with himself.

“It’ll be a little different this year,” he said.

McCarthy, his lawyer, sent a letter to the district in May to settle claims that the school still owes Francis about $1,700 pay. He plans to file suit, he said, if the district doesn’t respond by next month.

Emerson, the district’s attorney, did not return requests for comment on Friday.